It all began in 1981 with a small communication that had been printed in the publication by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The communication stated that during the 8-month period of October 1980 through May 1981, a group of five young, previously healthy, homosexual men had been treated for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). All five men also had previous or current cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and candidal mucosal infections. Two of the patients died. The type of pneumonia with which these young men were infected had, prior to their diagnosis, been found almost exclusively in severely immunosuppressed patients (CDC, 1981). In addition, a rare and relatively benign form of cancer, Kaposi’s sarcoma, had shown up in an aggressive form in young, gay men in New York (Hymes, et al., 1981; Van Dyk, 2008). These findings were considered to be highly unusual.
This communication detailed the beginnings of what would eventually become known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)—one of the most challenging and frightening infectious diseases of the 20th century.
The CDC (1982) formed a task force to investigate these cases, and by early 1982, cases were being reported from other American metropolitan areas, Europe, the Caribbean, and Central Africa. By 1983, scientists in France and the United States discovered the causative virus and health officials identified high risk behaviors that caused a prodromal illness, a period of infectivity, and finally the late-stage illness— AIDS. Dr. Luc Montagnier (in France) is credited with first isolating the virus and Dr. Robert Gallo (in the United States) is credited with first propagating it in a cell culture. Dr. Gallo was the first person to develop the critical diagnostic tests for HIV (Van Dyk, 2008).
Many important events contributed to the discovery of, and clinical options for, HIV/AIDS. A timeline of some of the many significant events related to HIV/AIDS is presented below (AVERT, 2017c).